Advent Carol Service – Live Streamed – Advent Sunday, 1 December 2024
WAITING IN EXPECTATION
A meditation in words and music for Advent Sunday
Led by Revd George Mwaura
Prologue
Introit: O nata lux
O nata lux de lumine, Jesu redemptor saeculi,
Dignare Clemens suplicum laudes preces que sumere.
Qui carne quondam contegi dignatus est pro perditis.
Nos membra confer effici tui beati corporis.
O light born of light, Jesus, redeemer of all ages,
Deign to accept the praises and prayers of your supplicants.
You, who deigned to be clothed in flesh for the sake of the lost,
Make us to become members of your mystical body.
Thomas Tallis
CCL31580
THE DARKNESS OF THE WORLD
Reading: Lamentations 5
Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint;
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, Lord, reign for ever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.
Choir: Drop down, O heavens
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour forth righteousness:
Let the earth be fruitful, and bring forth a Saviour.
Be not very angry, O Lord, neither remember our iniquity for ever:
Thy holy cities are a wilderness Jerusalem a desolation:
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers prais’d thee.
We have sinn’d, and are as an unclean thing, and we all do fade as a leaf:
Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away; thou hast hid thy face from us:
And hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. Ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen;
That ye may know me and believe me: I, even I, am the Lord, And beside me there
is no Saviour: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Comfort ye my people, my people shall not tarry:
I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions: fear not, for I will save thee:
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Richard Lloyd
CCL31580
Hymn: Come thou redeemer of the earth
[Choir only v. 1 & 2]
Come, thou Redeemer of the earth,
and manifest thy virgin-birth:
let every age adoring fall;
such birth befits the God of all.
Begotten of no human will,
but of the Spirit, thou art still
the Word of God, in flesh arrayed,
the Saviour, now to us displayed.
[Please stand if you are able. All sing]
The Virgin that the burden gained
with virgin honour all unstained;
The banners there of virtue glow;
God in his temple dwells below.
O equal to thy Father, thou!
Gird on thy fleshly mantle now,
the weakness of our mortal state
with deathless might invigorate.
All laud, eternal Son, to thee,
whose advent sets thy people free,
Whom with the Father we adore,
and Holy Ghost for evermore. Amen.
Author: St. Ambrose 340-397
CCL31580
Bidding: Revd George Mwaura
Tonight, in prayer, praise and song do we give voice to the hope set forth in the Scriptures, that God’s kingdom shall come; and as we prepare for that day to dawn upon us from on high, so we commend ourselves and the whole human family to God’s keeping.
May God guide us in the way of peace, give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and kindle in us the fire of divine love.
Amen, come Lord Jesus.
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of his mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
so that, at the last day, when he shall come again
in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Choir: Adam lay bounden
Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond;
four thousand winters though he not too long.
And all was for an apple, an apple that he took,
as clerkes finden, written in their book.
Ne had the apple taken been,
Ne had never our lady abeen heavené queen.
Blessed be the time that apple taken was,
therefore we moun singen, Deo gratias!
Boris Ord
CCL31580
WATCHING AND WAITING FOR GOD
Reading: Lamentations 3, 21-26
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.’
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Reading: The Meaning of Advent
by Max Metzger
Choir: Out of the deep (Psalm 130)
Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord:
Lord, hear my voice.
O let thine ears consider well:
the voice of my complaint.
If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done
amiss: O Lord, who may abide it?
For there is mercy with thee:
therefore shalt thou be feared.
I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for him:
in his word is my trust.
My soil fleeth unto the Lord:
before the morning watch,
I say, before the morning watch.
O Israel, trust in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy:
and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel: from all his sins.
John Rutter
CCL31580
Hymn: The people that in darkness sat
1 The people that in darkness sat
a glorious light have seen;
the Light has shined on them who long
in shades of death have been.
2 To hail thee, Sun of Righteousness,
the gathering nations come;
they joy as when the reapers bear
their harvest treasures home.
3 For thou their burden dost remove,
and break the tyrant’s rod,
as in the day when Midian fell
before the sword of God.
4 For unto us a child is born,
to us a Son is given,
and on his shoulder ever rests
all power in earth and heaven.
5 His name shall be the Prince of Peace,
the everlasting Lord,
the Wonderful, the Counsellor,
the God by all adored.
6 Lord Jesus, reign in us we pray,
and make us thine alone,
who with the Father ever art
and Holy Spirit one.
John Morison (1750-1798)
CCL31580
THE PROMISE OF A MESSIAH
Reading: Isaiah 40, 1-5
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
‘In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;[a]
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
Reading: Advent Calendar by Rowan Williams
He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
Choir: Now it springs forth
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Behold all things new says the Lord.
I will make way in the wilderness and rivers in the dessert.
To give drink to my chosen people, the people formed by myself
Alleluia! Alleluia! They declare my praise.
(Isaiah 40)
Adrian Boynton
CCL31580
Choir: And the Glory of the Lord (Messiah)
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
G. F. Handel
CCL31580
WITNESS TO THE TRUE LIGHT
Reading: John 1:6-13
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Reading: Sonnet for John the Baptist by Malcolm Guite
Choir: Fuit Homo
Fuit homo missus a Deo cui nomen erat Joannes.
Hic venit in testimonium per hiberet de lumine,
Et pararet Domino pleben perfectam.
Lo, there came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.
He came to testify on earth that he might testify and bear witness to the light,
and prepare for God the Lord a perfect people.
G.P. de Palestrina
CCL31580
Hymn: Hark what a sound
Hark what a sound, and too divine for hearing,
Stirs on the earth and trembles in the air!
Is it the thunder of the Lord’s appearing?
Is it the music of his people’s prayer?
Surely he cometh, and a thousand voices
Shout to the saints, and to the deaf are dumb;
Surely he cometh, and the earth rejoices,
Glad in his coming who hath sworn: I come!
This hath he done, and shall we not adore him?
This shall he do, and can we still despair?
Come, let us quickly fling ourselves before him,
Cast at his feet the burden of our care.
Yea through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning,
He shall suffice me, for he hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ
Frederick William Henry Myers 1843-1901
CCL31580
THE ROOT OF JESSE
Reading: Isaiah 11:1-9
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord –
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash round his waist.
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea
Choir: A spotless rose
A spotless Rose is blowing sprung from a tender root,
Of ancient seers foreshowing of Jesse promised fruit;
It’s fairest bud unfolds to light amid the cold winter,
And in the dark midnight. The Rose which I am singing,
whereof Isaiah said, is from its sweet root springing in Mary, purest Maid;
For through God’s great love and might,
The Blessed Babe she bare us in a cold winter’s night.
Herbert Howells
CCL31580
THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY
Reading: Luke 1:30-33, 38
30 But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end.’
38 ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.
Reading: The Annunciation by Elizabeth Jennings
Nothing will ease the pain to come
Though now she sits in ecstasy
And lets it have its way with her.
The angel’s shadow in the room
Is lightly lifted as if he
Had never terrified her there.
The furniture again returns
To its old simple state. She can
Take comfort from the things she knows
Though in her heart new loving burns
Something she never gave to man
Or god before, and this god grows
Most like a man. She wonders how
To pray at all, what thanks to give
And whom to give them to. “Alone
To all men’s eyes I now must go”
She thinks, “And by myself must live
With a strange child that is my own.”
So from her ecstasy she moves
And turns to human things at last
(Announcing angels set aside).
It is a human child she loves
Though a god stirs beneath her breast
And great salvations grip her side.
Choir: Magnificat (Service in G)
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my saviour.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.
He hath shewn strength with his arm: He hath scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat:
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel:
As he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: World without end, Amen.
Charles Stanford
CCL31580
Reflection: Revd George Mwaura
Hymn: Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
1. Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, great David’s greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free,
To take away transgression, and rule in equity.
2. He comes with succour speedy to those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy, and bid the weak strong;
To give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light;
Whose souls, condemned and dying, were precious in his sight.
3. He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth,
and love, joy, hope like flowers, spring in his path to birth:
before him on the mountains, shall peace the herald, go;
and righteousness in fountains from hill to valley flow.
4. O’er every foe victorious; he on his throne shall rest;
from age to age more glorious, all-blessing and all blest:
the tide of time shall never his covenant remove;
his name shall stand for ever; his changeless name of love.
James Montgomery, 1771-1854
CCL31580
EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US
Reading: Bringing to Birth
Choir: Alleluia, I heard a voice
Alleluia. I heard a voice as of strong thunderings, saying Alleluia.
Salvation and glory and honour and power be unto the Lord our God,
and to the Lamb for evermore. Alleluia
Thomas Weelkes
CCL31580
Blessing: Revd George Mwaura
Hymn: Lo he comes with clouds descending
Lo he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand, thousand saints attending,
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.
Every eye shall now behold him,
robed in awesome majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold him,
pierced and nailed him to the tree:
Deeply wailing, Deeply wailing, Deeply wailing
shall the true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of his passion,
still his dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
to his ransomed worshippers:
With what rapture, With what rapture, With what rapture
gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea amen! Let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory,
claim the kingdom for thine own;
O come quickly; O come quickly; O come quickly;
Hallelujah! Come, Lord, come.
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788
CCL31580
The Commission and Dismissal
The Lord of light shine in your hearts
The light of Christ fill us with his glory
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name
Make his deeds known in all the world
Sing to him, sing praises to him
Tell of the wonderful things he has done
Glory to his holy name
Let those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Go into all the world, and tell, of his glory
We go in his name: Amen!